Solved: Bed Linen Store Stuck at 4.5 ROAS

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I've had a look over the situation with your bed linen store. It's good you've gotten started and are already tracking things like ROAS. Tbh, a 4.5 ROAS for a new store isn't the disaster you might think it is - it's actually a pretty decent foundation to build on. A lot of new stores would be happy with that.

The real issue isn't that 4.5 is a bad number, it's that you're struggling to scale past it. When you hit a ceiling like this, it's almost never just one thing. It's usually a sign that you need to look at the whole system, from the first time someone sees your ad to the moment they check out (or decide not to). Just tweaking interests or running another carousel ad probably won't be the breakthrough you're looking for. You need a more structured plan.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and a bit of a framework for how I'd approach this. We'll dig into how to diagnose the real problem, fix the weak spots in your sales process, and then build an ad strategy that can actually grow.

We'll need to look at your funnel, not just your ads...

Right, so the first mistake most people make is they obsess over the ad itself. They tweak the audience, change the button colour, rewrite the headline a dozen times. While that stuff matters a bit, it's often not the main problem. The ad is just the front door. If the house inside is a mess, it doesn't matter how nice the door is.

You need to think like a detective and follow the evidence. Your data is telling you a story. You're putting £1 in and getting £4.50 back in revenue. But where are the other potential customers going? We need to find the "leaks" in your sales funnel. Every eCommerce business has them, but for new stores, they're usually gaping holes.

Here’s the basic path a customer takes:

1. Sees your Ad (Impression)
2. Clicks your Ad (Click-Through Rate - CTR)
3. Lands on your Website (Landing Page View)
4. Views a Product (Product Page View)
5. Adds to Cart (ATC)
6. Initiates Checkout (IC)
7. Purchases (Conversion)

You need to look at your metrics for each of these steps. Where is the biggest drop-off? This tells you exactly where to focus your effort.

• Really low CTR? -> Your ads are the problem. The creative (images/video) or the copy isn't grabbing attention or isn't relevant to the audience. People are seeing it but scrolling right past.
• Good CTR but low number of Product Page Views? -> The problem is your landing page or your targeting. Either the people clicking aren't the right fit for your products, or your homepage is confusing, slow to load, or doesn't guide them effectively to the products.
• Lots of Product Page Views but few Adds to Cart? -> This is a classic one. It means you've got their interest, but something on the product page is putting them off. It's almost always one of three things: poor product photos, unconvincing product descriptions, or the price/value proposition isn't clear.
• Lots of Adds to Cart but few completed Purchases? -> The leak is at the checkout. This is often caused by surprise shipping costs, a long and complicated checkout process, or a lack of trust signals (like secure payment logos).

Before you spend another pound on ads, you have to diagnose this. Below is a simple flowchart to help you visualise this process. Go into your ad platform and your website analytics and trace the customer journey. Find the biggest leak first.

I'd say you need to fix your website first...

Given that your site is new, my bet would be that your biggest leaks are happening on the website itself, specifically on the product pages and at checkout. You can have the best ads in the world, but if your site doesn't build trust and desire, you're just pouring water into a bucket full of holes. People buy from brands they trust, especially when it's a new name they've never heard of.

You're selling bed linen. This is a tactile, sensory product. People want to know what it feels like, how it will look in their room, and if it will give them that "luxury hotel" feeling. Your website has to do the job of a physical showroom. Your idea to get better photos and videos isn't just a good idea; it's non-negotiable. But it's about more than just snapping a few pics.

Here are the things I'd focus on immediatly:

• Photography is Everything: Forget product shots on a plain white background. You need professional lifestyle photos. Show the linen on a beautifully made bed, in a well-lit, aspirational bedroom. Show close-ups of the texture. Show a person relaxing in the bed, enjoying the product. Video is even better – a short clip of the fabric flowing, or someone making the bed, can convey quality in a way a static image can't. This is where you should spend money before you increase ad spend.
• Sell the Outcome, Not the Product: Does anyone really buy "100% Egyptian Cotton, 400 Thread Count"? No. They buy a better night's sleep. They buy a bedroom that feels like a sanctuary. They buy the feeling of slipping into a cool, fresh bed after a long day. Your product descriptions need to reflect this. Use the Before-After-Bridge framework.
  • Before: Tossing and turning on old, scratchy sheets in a boring bedroom.
  • After: Waking up refreshed and energised every morning in your own private oasis.
  • Bridge: Our buttery-soft classic linen collection.
  Get a professional copywriter if you have to. It pays for itself.
• Build an Army of Social Proof: A new site has zero trust by default. You have to build it from scratch. The most powerful way is with reviews. Reach out personally to your first few customers and ask for a review (maybe offer a small discount on their next purchase). Use a trusted reviews app like Loox or Judge.me to display them with photos. Plaster these testimonials all over your site – on the homepage, on the product pages, everywhere. No reviews = no trust = no sales.
• Be Transparent and Remove Risk: Clearly display your shipping policy, returns policy, and contact information. People get nervous buying from new sites. A clear, hassle-free returns policy removes a huge amount of risk for the buyer. Add trust badges for secure payments (Shopify Pay, PayPal, etc.) at the checkout. Make it obvious that you're a real, legitimate business.

Fixing these on-site elements will have a much bigger impact on your ROAS than any amount of ad tweaking. A 1% increase in your website's conversion rate is huge. If you're getting 1000 visitors and converting 1% (10 sales), improving that to 2% (20 sales) literally doubles your revenue from the exact same ad spend. Your ROAS would jump from 4.5 to 9.0 overnight. That's the power of fixing the bucket.

You probably should rethink your creative strategy...

Once your website is a conversion machine, we can turn our attention back to the ads. You mentioned using carousel ads. They can work, particularly for retargeting people who have already visited your site, as you can show them a range of products they might have looked at. However, for reaching new customers (what we call 'prospecting'), they can sometimes be a bit weak. Often, a single, powerful image or a captivating short video will outperform a carousel because it focuses all the attention on one clear message.

The problem is rarely the format (carousel vs. video) but the *angle*. What's the core message? "Here's some bed linen for sale" is not a message. It's a statement. As we discussed for the product descriptions, you need to sell the transformation.

Here are some creative angles you should be testing, each as a separate ad:

• The 'Sanctuary' Angle: Focus on creating a peaceful, beautiful bedroom. Use visuals that are calming, luxurious, and aspirational. The copy would talk about "transforming your bedroom into a retreat" or "the ultimate escape."
• The 'Better Sleep' Angle: This is a powerful, problem-focused angle. The visuals could be more focused on comfort and softness. The copy could lead with a question like, "Struggling to switch off at night?" or "The secret to waking up refreshed."
• The 'Material & Quality' Angle: This is for the connoisseurs. Use extreme close-ups of the fabric. Talk about the craftsmanship, the source of the cotton, the feel of the material. This builds desire through a sense of quality and exclusivity.
• The 'Customer Testimonial' Angle: This is pure social proof. Turn your best customer review into an ad. Use a simple graphic with their quote and a 5-star rating, alongside a great lifestyle photo. This is incredibly effective because it's an authentic endorsement, not just you talking about yourself. We've seen this work wonders for our eCommerce clients, from apparel to cleaning products.

You need to test these different angles systematically. Don't just throw everything into one campaign. Create different ads that each push one specific message and see which one resonates most with your audience (i.e., which one gets the best CTR and leads to the most conversions). It's not about finding one 'perfect' ad; it's about having a portfolio of winning angles you can rotate.

You'll need a proper ad account structure...

This brings me to my final point: structure. Your approach of "I did it by interests, by cities, by gender" sounds a bit scattergun. A professional campaign isn't just a collection of random audiences. It’s a deliberate system designed to move people through the stages of becoming a customer. The most common and effective way to structure this is the Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu) approach.

This sounds like jargon, but it's simple:

• ToFu (Top of Funnel - Prospecting): This is where you find new people who have never heard of you. Your goal here isn't necessarily an instant sale. It's to grab their attention and introduce them to your brand.
  • Audiences: This is where you use interest-based targeting. But be specific! Don't just target 'Bedding'. Target interests like 'Interior Design', followers of high-end home decor magazines (e.g., Elle Decor, Architectural Digest), people interested in competitor brands (e.g., The White Company, Brooklinen), or even interests like 'luxury hotels' or 'boutique hotels'. You also want to build Lookalike Audiences based on your future customers as soon as you have enough data (at least 100-1000 purchases).
  • Ad Creative: Use your most engaging, attention-grabbing content here. Short videos and beautiful lifestyle images work well. The 'Sanctuary' or 'Better Sleep' angles are perfect for ToFu.
• MoFu (Middle of Funnel - Consideration): This is for people who have shown some interest but haven't bought anything. They've visited your website, watched one of your videos, or engaged with your social media page. Your goal is to bring them back and build more trust.
  • Audiences: Retargeting audiences. This is a must. You should have ad sets for 'All Website Visitors (last 30 days)', 'Viewed a Product Page (last 14 days)', and 'Video Viewers (last 30 days)'. Crucially, you must *exclude* people who have already purchased.
  • Ad Creative: Here you can use ads that handle objections or provide more information. The 'Customer Testimonial' angle is powerful here, as is the 'Material & Quality' angle. You can show them different products or highlight your returns policy.
• BoFu (Bottom of Funnel - Conversion): This is for people who are right on the edge of buying. They've added a product to their cart or even started the checkout process but didn't finish. These are your hottest leads.
  • Audiences: Retargeting 'Added to Cart (last 7 days)' and 'Initiated Checkout (last 7 days)'. Again, exclude purchasers. This audience is small but highly valuable.
  • Ad Creative: Be direct. A simple ad with the product they left behind can be very effective. Sometimes a small incentive, like "Complete your order and get free shipping," can be the final nudge they need. This is where your carousel ads can be very effective, showing them the item they abandoned plus a few related ones.

By splitting your campaigns into this structure, you can tailor your message and budget to where each person is in their buying journey. You're not just shouting at everyone with the same ad anymore; you're having a proper conversation.

Let's talk about the numbers...

Finally, let's come back to that 4.5 ROAS. As I said, it's a good start, but is it profitable? ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) only tells you about revenue, not profit. To really understand your performance, you need to know your numbers inside out. You need to know your Gross Margin on each product. If your margin is 70%, a 4.5 ROAS is fantastic. If your margin is 20%, you're losing money on every sale.

ROAS = Revenue from Ads / Ad Spend

Profit = (Revenue from Ads * Gross Margin %) - Ad Spend

You need to be obsessed with the second calculation, not just the first. I've built a simple calculator below to help you play with these numbers. Adjust the sliders to see how changes in your ROAS and your product margin affect your actual profit. This will help you understand what ROAS you actually need to be profitable and what you should be aiming for.

I know this is a lot to take in, but scaling a brand isn't about finding one magic trick. It's about building a solid, repeatable system. From our experience with eCommerce clients, those who achieve high returns—like the 691% return we saw for a women's apparel brand or the 8x return for a maps seller—are the ones who are rigorous about this stuff. They fix their website, they test their creative angles methodically, and they structure their ad accounts properly. It takes work, but it's the only way to build something that lasts.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below in a table to give you a clear, actionable checklist.

Putting all of this into practice correctly can be a steep learning curve, especially when you're also trying to run a business. It takes time, expertise, and a lot of testing to get right. If you'd like a second pair of expert eyes to go through your ad account and website with you and create a really tailored plan, we offer a free, no-obligation strategy session. We can walk through this framework in the context of your specific brand and help you prioritise what to do next.

Whatever you decide, I hope this detailed breakdown gives you a much clearer path forward. Good luck!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh